Turkish politician Sinan Ogan shot from relative obscurity to international fame after finishing third in the first round of the presidential election on Monday. But even as the ultra-nationalist candidate was basking in the potential kingmaker spotlight, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fared better than expected in the final score, proving that the man who has ruled Turkey for 20 years doesn’t need anybody to win his toughest electoral challenge yet.
At the inflection point on a long election night, just as Turks were sweating over an abrupt delay in voting data streaming in from the big cities, Turkey’s third man in the 2023 presidential race stepped into the spotlight.
